Excerpt: The film features a period-perfect recreation of late-1950s America and a gloomily oppressive portrait of East Berlin after the construction of the Berlin Wall, a sharp screenplay co-written by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, and the directorial signatures that remind us again that Spielberg is one of the great directors.

Excerpt: The really interesting story is happening outside of the drawing rooms where Donovan engages with his Russian and German adversaries, out on the streets of Germany where chaos has taken hold as the Berlin Wall is erected. Did I forget to mention that? BRIDGE OF SPIES buries its lede even deeper than I ever could, stowing away the most attractive and intriguing element in its tale to concentrate on the verbal and logistical parrying of Donovan as he tries to swap Abel for Powers.

Excerpt: ‘Bridge of Spies’ is a dialogue-heavy historical drama from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, which manages to take its characters out of the typically stuffy back rooms and engage audiences for the entire length of its narrative.

Excerpt: By taking a pivotal Cold War moment that was shrouded in secrecy, director Steven Spielberg deftly handles the problems of a perplexing storyline and distills it into something entertaining to watch.

Excerpt: Employing expert techniques including cinematography, production design, and costumes, Bridge of Spies is perfect at the science of filmmaking and bringing forth a specific time and place, but the art and intrigue side of the project does not pull equal weight. Bridge of Spies is an effective spy and legal game of cat and mouse, but it is not epic.

Excerpt: Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies is a brief for due process — the ancient concept that even the most vile of us are entitled to legal representation. Even though the film is set in 1957, Spielberg’s point is still valid and urgent.

Excerpt: Through it all, though, we never lose the Spielberg sensibility of pure history—albeit sanitized save one violent burst—and complex characterizations. I credit this to the humor because it disarms tension and helps us empathize with all.

Excerpt: It’s a meandering slog filled with old white men in suits arguing at length in various high-ceilinged rooms. Ultimately, not even all the charms of Hanks can save this film from Spielberg’s indulgences.

Excerpt: What I love about this film is that despite it’s modern-day polish, it feels like a film from the Golden Age of Hollywood, when American films held the red, white and blue ideologies close to the chest. Most of this comes through a wonderful performance by Tom Hanks who gives us the kind of character that Jimmy Stewart use to play. Donovan is honest, but he’s also prone to think on his feet – he’s a lawyer. He sees Abel for what he is but he doesn’t dismiss him. There’s an admiration for this little man with a curious accent who seems unfazed by what is happening to him. Donovan is a good man who sets out to do the right thing, to bring home Powers and Pryor and use his legal know-how to do it.

Excerpt: Though fastidiously made, in terms of both its evocative period setting and its skillful emotional manipulation, in the end the picture comes across as little more than a solid piece of middlebrow uplift, respectable but not outstanding—good, but certainly not the most memorable work of either director or star.